My April totals are down again--just when I think I might be getting my reading mojo back, I start lagging. Only 13 books this month and nowhere near last year's total for the month of 20! (where did all that reading time go this year?) AND GoodReads STILL says I'm running behind....so, if I want to Outdo myself (one of the many challenges I'm juggling), then I still need to get busy.
Here we go with the stats...
Total Books Read: 13
Total Pages: 3422 [less books, more pages]
Average Rating: 3.48 stars
Top Rating: 5 stars (one book)
Percentage by Female Authors: 33%
Percentage by US Authors: 47%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors: 6%
Percentage Mystery: 77%
Percentage Fiction: 85%
Percentage written 2000+: 30%
Percentage of Rereads: 0%
Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% {It's easy to have every book count for a challenge when you sign up for as many as I do.}
Number of Challenges fulfilled so far: 7 (25%)
AND, as mentioned above, Kerrie has started us up for another year of Crime Fiction Favorites. What she's looking for is our Top Mystery Read for each month. In April, I read ten books that may count as mysteries--with none grabbing the five stars (that went to A Private History of Awe by Scott Russell Sanders).
Black Widow by Patrick Quentin (2 stars)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (4 stars)
The Ivy League Chronicles: 9 Squares by E. K. Prescott (1 star)
The Frozen Shroud by Martin Edwards (4 stars)
The Mountains Have a Secret by Arthur W. Upfield (3.75 stars)
The Devil's Stronghold by Leslie Ford (4 stars)
The Silence of Herondale by Joan Aiken (3 stars)
Holiday Homicide by Rufus King (4 stars)
Death Has Green Fingers by Lionel Black (3.5 stars)
Blood Makes Noise by Gregory Widen (3.5 stars)
As you can see above, I handed out four 4 star ratings this month. They are all terrific--Pintoff's book is a strong debut novel in a historical detective series; The Frozen Shroud is the 6th book in Edwards's series and strong enough to make me wonder what I was doing when the other five came out; Ford's novel was a humorous entry in a vintage mystery series starring Colonel Primrose and Grace Latham; and Holiday Homicide made me remember why I liked Rufus King so much and is a wonderful Nero Wolfe pastiche. But I can't choose them all and I've got to make a decision (but that doesn't mean you can't check out all of the reviews). So, that means that April's P.O.M. Award goes to.......(drum roll, please)
.... The Frozen Shroud by Martin Edwards. This is a well-plotted mystery with lots of red herrings and plenty of suspects. I've got to give Edwards credit--he had me changing my mind about the culprit with nearly every turn of the page.
Even with less books than last month (though with more pages which is more important) those stats are still impressive. As always, very nice!
ReplyDeleteRed: more pages are good--but all of my challenges are based on book numbers not pages :-(
ReplyDeleteVery jealous that you've got a copy of The Frozen Shroud - it's a great series, well worth catching up on. Looking forward to this one immensely.
ReplyDeleteAs always, a nice list with a lot of variety. I have started the Martin Edwards series and plan to continue it. I look forward to reading the Rufus King book.
ReplyDeleteHappy May reading!
ReplyDeleteSteve: I don't actually own The Frozen Shroud...grabbed that from the library.
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